Tony Perkis
Anthony “Tony” Perkis Jr. is the main antagonist in the 1995 live-action Disney film Heavyweights. A fitness guru with a hatred of fat people, he buys Camp Hope and renames it Perkis Power. He hopes to make an infomercial about his exercise regime called Perkisizing. He was portrayed by Ben Stiller, who also played White Goodman in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Hal in Happy Gilmore, and Khaka Peü Peü in the Phineas and Ferb episode "The Beak". Biography Although he acts friendly when he appears at the beginning, Tony eventually shows his true colors, and is revealed to be a total psychopath. When one of the campers, Josh Birnbaum, is kicked out of the camp, he sets up a dance with a female camp to humiliate the fat kids into losing weight. However, when the previous camp counselors make the dance fun, he ends the dance. Josh later returns when Josh’s father threatens to sue. The kids break into Tony’s cabin while he’s on a run and find the letters home sealed in a chest, which meant he never bothered to send them. They escape before Tony knows anyone entered. When a kid tells them of a secret spot to obtain food, they start gaining more weight than when they came to the camp. As punishment, Tony forces the kids to a 20-mile hike. After he says he's going to extend the hike until they lose weight, as well as climb a mountain with their bare hands and feet, they trick him into a hole and the kids take over the camp and imprison him in a chicken fence with a bug zapper electrifying it. After a night of binge eating, Pat, the camp counselor who has been at Camp Hope the longest (since he was ten years old), tells them they now need to learn personal responsibility. Pat proves to be a better leader than Tony as he makes losing weight and proper dieting fun. On Parents Day, Pat shows the parents a videotape comprised of the infomercial footage that showed Tony’s abusive behavior (making the parents realize that their children had been right about Tony). Tony escapes and sees the parents watching the tape. Realizing his plans for a weight loss infomercial has finally been ruined, he loses his mind and comes after Gerald Garner, the leader of the Chipmunks and his archenemy, only to be punched in the stomach by Gerald’s father. Tony knocks Gerald’s father down and does some back flips in order to escape, but stumbles and knocks himself out. Tony’s father is called to the camp, and takes the keys and the deed to the camp away from his son in order to ensure that what had happened at Camp Hope doesn't happen again. However, when he initially says he will shut the camp down, he changes his mind (as he is shown to be very nice when compared to his son) when Gerald speaks up for himself and the rest of his fellow campers when he says that they want to stay at the camp because, despite what happened with Tony, they still had a lot of fun; with that, Tony’s father puts Pat in charge. In the end, Pat gives Camp Hope the hope to beat Camp NVP and they win the Apache Relay. At the end of the credits, Tony becomes a door-to-door salesman selling healing crystals. But it is implied to the viewer he's not having any success. Trivia *It is implied that Tony hardly received any love from his father which led him to become a psychopath. *Tony takes pleasure in fat-shaming the campers most likely because he used to be fat too when he was their age and so the boys evoke painful memories of his childhood. *Tony Perkis is similar to another villain that Ben Stiller played: White Goodman from Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Both of them are obsessed with fitness. Tony is worse because White hasn't been shown tormenting children. Some theorize that Tony and White are the same character. *Tony can be considered somewhat of a tragic villain because he only wanted to be able to generate enough income to get by off his weight loss camp program and that his father didn't show him affection, and since the movie's protagonists weren't so noble either due to their continuous cheating on diets. Navigation Category:Brutes Category:Xenophobes Category:Karma Houdini Category:Incompetent Category:Movie Villains Category:Comedy Villains Category:Live Action Villains Category:Businessmen Category:Tragic Category:Social Darwinists Category:Psychopath Category:Charismatic Category:Archenemy Category:Redeemed Category:Male Category:Betrayed Category:Disciplinarians Category:Chaotic Evil Category:Faux Affably Evil Category:Cheater Category:Abusers